Wes Paul
Encyclopedia
Wes Paul grew up in Lodge Lane, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. Between 13 November 2005 and 2 September 2007 he was the stage manager and compère of Sounds of the Sixties Cavern Showcase which ran every Sunday at The Cavern Club
The Cavern Club
The Cavern Club is a rock and roll club in Liverpool, England. Opened on Wednesday 16 January 1957, the club had their first performance by The Beatles on 9 February 1961, and where Brian Epstein first saw The Beatles performing on 9 November 1961....
, Liverpool. The organisation was started by Kingsize Taylor, his wife Marga and Wes Paul, who took on the extra roles of booking the bands and managing the website. Every week five bands, or more, appeared performing music primarily from the '50s and '60s. These acts ranged from young bands just starting out to original Merseybeat
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
groups such as The Undertakers
The Undertakers
The Undertakers were a British beat group, contemporaries of The Beatles and a leading group in the Merseybeat music scene of the early 1960s.-Band members:Their best known line-up was:*Jackie Lomax *Chris Huston...
and The Mojos
The Mojos
The Mojos are a British beat group from the 1960s, best known for their hit UK single, "Everything's Alright". In spite of having one of the best reputations among the Liverpool scene, "Everything's Alright" remained their only major hit, with only two other singles charting low in the UK Singles...
.
Early years
He attended Tiber Street Infant School in Lodge Lane, Liverpool, before going to Princes Park Secondary Modern School in Sefton ParkSefton Park
Sefton Park is a public park in south Liverpool, England. The park is in a district of the same name within the Liverpool City Council Ward of Mossley Hill, and roughly within the historic bounds of the large area of Toxteth Park...
Road. He left school at 15 to work as an apprentice block maker at John Holmes Blockmakers in Liver Street in the city centre. Wes had an early interest in music and in 1955 purchased his first guitar for £5 at Gerry Allan's record shop in Lodge Lane. In that year he formed a skiffle group (Whiskey Skiffle) with some friends and played on the street corners for money. At the age of 14 he formed a band called Westy's Wise Jives - the band had this emblazoned on the backs of their leather jackets - they played at school assemblies and local events - their influences being Hank Williams and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
. Wes Paul made up for his lack of guitar skills by becoming the lead singer.
At the age of 16 Wes signed up for the Merchant Navy and spent ten weeks on the Vindicatrix, the latter part of this time as Bos'un (Boatswain
Boatswain
A boatswain , bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The boatswain supervises the other unlicensed members of the ship's deck department, and typically is not a watchstander, except on vessels with small crews...
). After returning, July 1959, to Liverpool he signed on as deck boy on the Sylvania and sailed across the Western Ocean to Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. He was now a "Cunard Yank". On 30 September 1959 he sailed on a Blue Funnel Line
Blue Funnel Line
Alfred Holt and Company, marketed as the Blue Funnel Line, was founded by Alfred Holt on 16 January 1866.The main operating subsidiary was the Ocean Steam Ship Company, which owned and operated the majority of the company's vessels....
ship called the Lycaon as Junior Ordinary Seaman and sailed to the Kiel Canal
Kiel Canal
The Kiel Canal , known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal until 1948, is a long canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.The canal links the North Sea at Brunsbüttel to the Baltic Sea at Kiel-Holtenau. An average of is saved by using the Kiel Canal instead of going around the Jutland Peninsula....
stopping a week in St. Pauli
St. Pauli
St. Pauli , located in the Hamburg-Mitte borough, is one of the 105 quarters of the city of Hamburg, Germany. Situated on the right bank of the Elbe river, the Landungsbrücken are a northern part of the port of Hamburg. St. Pauli contains a world famous red light district around the street Reeperbahn...
, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, a city which was to play a major role in the formation of the famous Merseybeat sound a few years later and the home of the Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
, the Star-Club
Star-Club
The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany that opened Friday 13 April 1962 and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the sixties, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on 31 December 1969 and the building it occupied was...
, the Kaiserkeller
Kaiserkeller
Kaiserkeller is a night club in the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg, Germany, near the Reeperbahn. It was opened by Bruno Koschmider on October 14, 1959. The Beatles had a contract with Kaiserkeller to play there in 1960.-Biography:...
and the Top Ten.
Education
Wes Paul graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree. His profile included The History of Mathematics
History of mathematics
The area of study known as the history of mathematics is primarily an investigation into the origin of discoveries in mathematics and, to a lesser extent, an investigation into the mathematical methods and notation of the past....
, Database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
and Database Management and Synthetic
Chemical synthesis
In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions to get a product, or several products. This happens by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions...
Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, and in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
Hons degree, he was also awarded a post-graduate
Postgraduate education
Postgraduate education involves learning and studying for degrees or other qualifications for which a first or Bachelor's degree generally is required, and is normally considered to be part of higher education...
certificate in project management
Project management
Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end , undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value...
. Research towards further honours has thus far included the medical profession in Liverpool and the poor in Victorian London (Henry Mayhew
Henry Mayhew
Henry Mayhew was an English social researcher, journalist, playwright and advocate of reform. He was one of the two founders of the satirical and humorous magazine Punch, and the magazine's joint-editor, with Mark Lemon, in its early days...
, Charles Booth
Charles Booth (philanthropist)
Charles Booth was an English philanthropist and social researcher. He is most famed for his innovative work on documenting working class life in London at the end of the 19th century, work that along with that of Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree influenced government intervention against poverty in the...
, Beatrice Webb
Beatrice Webb
Martha Beatrice Webb, Lady Passfield was an English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer. Although her husband became Baron Passfield in 1929, she refused to be known as Lady Passfield...
) as well as research in family history and demographics
Demographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...
.
Cavern Showcase
Sounds of the Sixties Cavern Showcase was started by 60s musician Kingsize Taylor, his wife Marga and Wes Paul and was born out of a desire to revive and continue the now legendary Cavern sessions of the early 60s. They agreed that any money raised from the shows would go towards helping 60s musicians who had fallen on hard times. The shows were hugely successful, attracting weekly audiences of over 200 people from all over the world. Every Sunday night there were four to five bands playing music from the 50s and 60s. The night showcased original 60s bands and new up and coming bands, giving them a chance to perform on the famous Cavern stage. Wes Paul's band played on the showcase every week and as a result he appeared on the Cavern stage a total of 86 times. He is also possibly the only musician to have played both Cavern stages on the same night.Wes Paul Today
Wes Paul currently plays guitarGuitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and sings in his own group, The Wes Paul Band, who gig around the West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
and Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
area. Band members include Wes Paul - Guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and Vocals, Becky Simpson
Becky Simpson
Becky Simpson is a Manchester-born actress, writer and musician who now lives in the Calderdale area of West Yorkshire. In 1997, Simpson won the BBC Talkie of the Year award for her role in Spoonface Steinberg.- Personal life :...
- Bass Guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and Vocals, Paul (Smiley) Galvin - Pedal Steel, Keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, Lead Guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, Bass and Backing Vocals.
Wes Paul is also a keen actor who has appeared in productions such as Across the Universe
Across the Universe (film)
Across the Universe is a musical romantic drama film directed by Julie Taymor, produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film's plot is centered around songs by The Beatles. It was released in the United States on October 12, 2007. The script is based on an original...
, The Ruby in the Smoke
The Ruby in the Smoke
The Ruby in the Smoke is a novel by the English author Philip Pullman. It was also adapted for television in 2006.-Plot summary:This book takes place in 1872. A sixteen year old girl named Veronica Beatrice “Sally” Lockhart goes to visit where her father used to work, a shipping company named...
, Shameless
Shameless
Shameless is a British television drama series set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004...
, the Red Riding
Red Riding
Red Riding is a television adaptation of English author David Peace's Red Riding Quartet. Published between 1999 and 2002, the quartet comprises the novels Nineteen Seventy-Four , Nineteen Seventy-Seven , Nineteen Eighty and Nineteen Eighty-Three...
trilogy, the latest Guy Ritchie
Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie is an English screenwriter and film maker who directed Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver, RocknRolla and Sherlock Holmes.-Early life:...
movie Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
, East is East
East is East (film)
East Is East is a 1999 British black comedy/drama film, written by Ayub Khan-Din and directed by Damien O'Donnell. It is set in a British household of mixed-ethnicity, with a British Pakistani father and an English mother in Salford, Lancashire, in 1971...
sequel West is West
West Is West (2010 film)
West Is West is a 2011 British comedy-drama film, which is a sequel to the 1999 comedy East Is East. It stars Aqib Khan, Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Ila Arun and Jimi Mistry, is written by Ayub Khan-Din, directed by Andy DeEmmony, and produced by Leslee Udwin for Assassin Films and BBC Films.The film...
and the latest Nike commercial. He recently appeared in a theatre production (The Hippodrome
Hippodrome
A hippodrome was a Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words "hippos and "dromos"...
) with Becky Simpson (Rebecca Paul), his partner, in a stage production of Mack & Mabel
Mack & Mabel
Mack & Mabel is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The plot involves the tumultuous romantic relationship between Hollywood director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand , who became one of his biggest stars...
, the musical by Jerry Herman
Jerry Herman
Jerry Herman is an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway musical theater. He composed the scores for the hit Broadway musicals Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles. He has been nominated for the Tony Award five times, and won twice, for Hello, Dolly! and La Cage...
about the silent movie producer Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...
and his lover Mabel Normand
Mabel Normand
Mabel Normand was an American silent film comedienne and actress. She was a popular star of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and is noted as one of the film industry's first female screenwriters, producers and directors...
. This was followed by an appearance in the theatre production of Tom's Midnight Garden
Tom's Midnight Garden
Tom's Midnight Garden is a children's novel by Philippa Pearce. It won the Carnegie Medal in 1958, the year of its publication. It has been adapted for radio, television, the cinema, and the stage.-Plot summary:...
.
Wes Paul's latest venture is a short film which was written by his partner, Becky Simpson, entitled Girl Talk, which is being filmed in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. Several scenes being shot in the notable Canal Street
Canal Street (Manchester)
Canal Street, the centre of the Manchester Gay Village, is a street in Manchester city centre in North West England. The pedestrianised street, which runs along the west side of the Rochdale Canal, is lined with gay bars and restaurants...
Taurus Club. Diane Whitley
Diane Whitley
Diane Whitley is a professional writer with over 25 years experience. She originally trained as an actor at Manchester Polytechnic School of Theatre following in the footsteps of the likes of Julie Walters, David Threlfall and Richard Griffiths. After encouragement by her husband, Dave Simpson, she...
is the executive producer, Becky Simpson is the producer, Ric Forster Holly Oaks is the director and Wes Paul is the assistant producer.
The Wes Paul Band recently recorded an album in Sun Studios, Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
featuring Memphian drummer Jason M. Vawter, called Manchester to Memphis to coincide with their American Tour of the same name. Other songs included Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's "That's All Right Mama" , "Baby Let's Play House
Baby Let's Play House
"Baby, Let's Play House", is a song written by Arthur Gunter and recorded by him in 1954 on the Excello Records label, and covered by Elvis Presley the following year on Sun Records...
", Lawdy Miss Clawdy
Lawdy Miss Clawdy
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" is a song by Lloyd Price. It was first recorded by Price at the New Orleans recording studio of Specialty Records in March 1952. It was released under the Specialty label in April and was number one on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart for seven weeks and stayed on the chart...
, Blue Suede Shoes
Blue Suede Shoes
"Blue Suede Shoes" is a rock and roll standard written and first recorded by Carl Perkins in 1955 and is considered one of the first rockabilly records and incorporated elements of blues, country and pop music of the time...
as well as amongst others - Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
's "Folsom Prison Blues
Folsom Prison Blues
"Folsom Prison Blues" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Johnny Cash. The song combines elements from two popular folk genres, the train song and the prison song, both of which Cash would continue to use for the rest of his career...
", "Stripes" and Jackson
Jackson (song)
"Jackson" is a song, written in 1963 by Jerry Leiber and Billy Edd Wheeler, about a married couple who find that the "fire" has gone out of their relationship...
. Their US trip included Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, Jackson
Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...
and Gatlinburg in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
; the birth place of Hank Williams, Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
, and then Elvis' birthplace, Tupelo, Mississippi
Tupelo, Mississippi
Tupelo is the largest city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. It is the seventh largest city in the state of Mississippi, smaller than Meridian, and larger than Greenville. As of the 2000 United States Census, the city's population was 34,211...
, before driving back to Memphis for their final two gigs and flight home to Calderdale
Calderdale
The Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, through which the upper part of the River Calder flows, and from which it takes its name...
.
External links
- http://cavernshowcase.com - Cavern Showcase
- http://wespaulband.com - The Wes Paul Band
- http://memphis.ietod.com
- http://jackson.ietod.com
- http://nashville.ietod.com
- http://pigeonforge.ietod.com
- http://montgomery.irtod.com
- http://tupelo.ietod.com
- http://caldercats.com - Calder Cats
- http://wespaul.com - Official Website
- http://kingsizetaylor.com - Kingsize Taylor